Winneshiek County, Iowa  Genealogy Trails
 

Hiram Lanpher Coffeen
Hiram Lanper Coffeen, principal of the Calmar public schools, and late School Superintendent of Winneshiek county, Iowa, was born in Jefferson county, New York, August 22, 1843, being a son of Henry and Nancy (Lanpher) Coffeen. The paternal great-grandfather of our subject is the founder of the American branch of the family. He left Ireland when a boy, and was “bound out” for the purpose of working out the passage money. He was to serve from his 14th year to his 19th to pay his passage, but in fact served only for a short time. He married an
English lady. Henry Coffeen, grandfather of our subject, was a native of  Virginia, and lived in that State from 1770 to 1790.
He married Zelia Williams, and the offspring of this union were Moses, Henry, David and Nathan. When twenty years of age he located in Connecticut, where he married, and in 1799 he moved to Lewis county, New York, and was one of the pioneers of that region. He was a
farmer by occupation.
  Henry Coffeen, father of our subject, was the first white male child born in Lewis county, New York, his birth having occurred February 8, 1800. He began life for himself first as a farmer, and in 1830 became a woolen-goods manufacturer, and continued this till the panic of 1837 closed the business. He then farmed for a time, and later worked at the carpenter’s trade. In October, 1851, he moved to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, where he followed farming until his death, which occurred in October, 1870. His first wife, a Miss Cole, bore
him one child, Marcia, who married a Mr. Isaacs, and lived in New York until his death three years later. She had one son, Henry, and is now residing in the State of Oregon. For his second wife he married Nancy Lanpher, in 1825. She was a native of Lewis county, New York, born December 30, 1806; she died at the old farm in Wisconsin, December 3, 1894. Her parents, Paul and Polly Lanpher, were of English descent, and moved from Connecticut to New York. Their children were: Paul, born in 1796; Samuel, 1798; Richard, 1801; Nancy, 1806; and Hiram, 1811.
  The children of Mr. and Mrs. Coffeen were: Marshall, who received a gunshot wound at Shiloh, April 6, 1862, and died from the effects eight days later. Innocent, who married William Boyer (who enlisted and died in the service) and died in 1889; Charlotte, married Truman A. Root, and both are now deceased; Lucy, who married Patterson Giltner, who enlisted in the war of the Rebellion, a member of the Twelfth Minnesota Infantry, who died at Bowling Green, Kentucky; she died in 1884; Henry Hale, who was a member of Company A, Eighteenth
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, was wounded at Shiloh by a portion of a shell, the force of which was nearly spent; was taken prisoner April 6, 1862, and confined in an old tobacco house at Mobile, Alabama; later he was paroled, and finally exchanged; he then rejoined his company and remained with it until after the surrender of Vicksburg; his lungs became diseased, presumably from the effects of the wound; he was discharged, came home, and died, in November, 1863, Hiram Lanpher, the subject of this sketch, the next in order of birth, and Francis
Marion, the youngest child, operates a cheese factory in Wisconsin.
Mr. Henry Coffeen was a member of the Friends’ Society. He was originally a Democrat, but later voted for Fremont and remained in the Republican party.  Our subject was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin, including the high school at Taycheedah. In 1863 he entered Ann Arbor and spent one year there in the scientific course. He received his instructions from a member of the senior class, doing, however, the regular college work. He lessened his expenses by looking after a number of students’ rooms, and thus worked his way through
the year. He began teaching at seventeen years of age, and taught, all told, in Wisconsin, about four years.
  Mr. Coffeen enlisted in Company D, Forty-fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in November, 1846, at Madison. He did recruiting service till March, 1865, and was then sent to Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained until his discharge, in July following. As will be seen in the above paragraphs, two brothers and two brothers-in-law of our subject, gave up their lives for the Union cause during the late Rebellion. Mr. Coffeen enlisted shortly after he reached his twenty-first year, as First Sergeant, and retained this rank throughout the service.
  In 1866 Mr. Coffeen started a grocery business at Fond du Lac, being associated with J.C. Huber, under the firm name of Huber & Coffeen. They continued together but a short time, however, and then Mr. Coffeen conducted the business alone for about one year. In July, 1870, he removed to McLeod county, Minnesota, and engaged in contract work on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
 In August, 1876, he removed to Allamakee county, Iowa, and two months later accepted the position of teacher in a Winneshiek county school, located in Pleasant township. Mr. Coffeen was an entire stranger to Iowans, and he took this school with the distinct understanding that should he fail to get a first-class certificate he should not receive the full amount of salary agreed upon. He succeeded, however, in taking a first-grade certificate from the examiners. The following spring he was called to the Decorah schools, where he taught for three months. In the fall of 1877 he was elected principal of the Decorah schools and continued in this position until his health failed him in 1885. He next took charge as manager, on salary, of the John Frank farm, which was located in Mower county, Minnesota, and comprised 1,500 acres. Mr. Coffeen returned to Winneshiek county at the end of the year, and for the next three years taught school at the towns of Freeport, Burr Oak and Hesper. In the fall of 1889 he was elected County Superintendent of Schools, and was twice re-elected, serving in all six years, from January, 1890, to January, 1896. In September, 1895, he took the principalship of the Calmar schools, which he still holds.
  Mr. Coffeen was first married December 7, 1865, to Miss Rosina Arvilla Whitford, at Taycheedah, Wisconsin. She died February 18, 1886. There was but one child, Elmer Lanpher, born February 1, 1869, at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He is now principal of the Waukon public schools. January 2, 1889, Mr. Coffeen was married to Miss Nora Jewell, daughter of James and Olive (Wilbur) Jewell, of Burr Oak, Iowa. She was born in Iowa, April 4, 1867. Their children are: Alvara Roy, born November 22, 1889, at Hesper, Iowa; and Atta Ruth, born March 27, 1892, at Decorah, Iowa.
  Mr. Coffeen is a Republican in politics, and served for two years as chairman of the county central committee. He is a member of the Decorah Post, G. A. R. For eight years he has been a member of the Congregational Church. In his present position as principal of the Calmar schools, Mr. Coffeen has under his care over 260 pupils, who are instructed by five teachers, including the
principal. During the time he served as principal of the Decorah schools he controlled from eleven to fourteen teachers. It was during his term that the public schools of Decorah were graded, and the present fine system now used therein established.
A Memorial & Biographical Record of Iowa, 1896,  pages 764 - 765
Transcribed by Lisa Smalley -2008

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